Hey, you guys, Carter Crowley here with Century 21 and Crowley Real Estate. And in today’s video, I am going to go over what to know when buying a house for the first time. So it’s exciting. It’s an exciting process. Congratulations for just starting on the initial steps. And in today’s video, like I said, I will go over what you need to know when you’re buying your first house. It’s pretty simple. It’s pretty straightforward, but it’s very important that you have kind of grasp the concept. So first thing is first. It’s always nice to know how much you can afford. Like even though you think, “Okay, I have budgeted, I can afford $1,500 a month.” Well, that’s not necessarily what a lender will pre-approve you up to. You might have $1,500 of disposable income, but they go off of your debt to income ratio and they can’t go above a certain threshold because then you’re at risk for foreclosure and defaulting on your loan.
So that is the first thing that you needed to do. Probably talk with the lender before you even start looking at houses. This will give you a basic idea, and they don’t have to necessarily pull your credit, but you can get the basic understanding on, okay, I make this much money. I pay this much money each month in expenses. I can afford this much, and the lender will give you that information. They probably will want to pull your credit, which is totally fine. It’ll happen one way or another. But then you’re pre-approved so that you know how much you can afford up to. You can make a decision if you come across something and you like, and that is typically the first step in the process.
The next step, and it really depends upon the market that you’re in, you could be in a buyer’s market which favors you, obviously, if you’re looking for a house or you could be in a sellers’ market, which is what we’re in right now, August of 2019. It’s completely a sellers’ market here in Appleton, Wisconsin, which means sellers are getting ridiculous offers on their house and buyers are getting stupid with what they’re offering. But if you’re a buyer like that, then so be it. I wish you all the best. Hopefully, the market does not turn. But that’s something you needed to be aware of, should you make a stupid offer on a property just to get it or should you be realistic and actually get something that is in your comfort level?
So pre-approved, and then start looking at houses. How do you do this? Well, you need to be with a real estate agent. So contact an agent. Reach out to me. If I can be of assistance, I would love to help you. I work with a ton of first-time homebuyers as a real estate agent. And that’s kind of the basic gist of things. But once you start working with an agent, you’ll be going through properties. They will explain things a little bit more. But the two major things on what to know when you’re buying your first house is, get preapproved and start talking with a real estate agent. If the agent is knowledgeable, they should be able to tell you anything and everything you need to know about the neighborhood, the statistics in the area, the schools, everything like that.
As realtors, we can’t steer you in one way or another. But we can be truthful and honest in what we know about the market in the neighborhood. So if you have any questions, if you’re considering buying a house and you need a real estate agent to assist you, I’m a realtor here in the Appleton area. I help first-time homebuyers in Appleton. I would love to assist you. And I hope you found this video informational on what to know when buying a first house or buying a house for the first-time in Appleton, Wisconsin. Have a great day guys, and I’ll talk to you soon.
